City in Sound; Logan Square

This is Jack Angel with city and sound. These are stories out of Chicago, city of all things, city of neighborhoods. The traffic along Milwaukee Avenue is perpetual. Milwaukee Avenue is main street to the great northwest side. It passes by the tall monument in Logan Square and a block bisected by Logan Boulevard on the north and Kedzie on the west. For no other reason than to learn what manner of life is comprised there,

we paid it a call. But that is reason enough. The simple document of a city block is a day -to -day serial that runs an intriguing course. You could begin it at the corner drugstore. Here at the corner of Milwaukee in Logan, cops pharmacy has been here. How long did you say sir? Well this is my 25th year and you run this all by yourself. That's right. And you're a Raymond cop registered pharmacist. That's right. You have a neighborhood type drugstore here, gochester? Well that's it. It's more like a small town area. These people have been here some of them many many years, lots longer than I have. And they seem to take it as a congregating place where they can come in and visit. And not with the intention of buying all the time, just to come in and advance the time of day and chew the rag for a little bit. You've been here 25 years Mr. Cop as the neighborhood changed much in that time. Well it's constantly changing, has been from the beginning even. But more noticeably lately. Didn't you tell me that your father here

before you was here for a long time and his father before him? Well not in this area no. My dad, they came to Chicago many years ago and his father and his grandfather came through here. That's probably about a hundred years ago. And you've been here in this spot 25? And you must like it. Well pretty good. I'm going to be sat here for a while yet. Been good to you? It's been good to me. I have no kicks. How's the popsicle business? Oh popsicle does pretty good. Even the grownups get popsicles. Okay, thank you. Milwaukee Avenue is one of the main stems of the northwest side. We're standing here in the 2 ,500 block just south of Logan. Boulevard and Logan Square. Looking up and down the street as we do when we stand here. Across the street at the Logan Square currency exchange. Christian science reading room. Palky the florist. Laundered down the way. The Logan Square state and savings bank. Which looked

as if it had long since closed. Maybe during the depression. Maybe later. Down the street here to car roll. Old Chrysler Plymouth Lincoln. Dodge farther down. And in front of the address 2558. North Milwaukee. There's a sign that reads. The Vogue Beauty System. This is a short walk up to the second floor. And it might be worth taking. George, let's get in off the street here. And certainly a kind of colorful array of handsome women here. Framed as you had been hanging on the wall. And we expect to find out more about this establishment when we get farther up to it and into it. This is the Vogue Beauty School. Mr. Harriall Oppenheim is the owner of the Vogue Beauty Schools. And I understand there are two of them. This is only one.

That's correct. You're either in this neighborhood. The other one is at Barnard Lincoln -Belmont area, 3304 North Lincoln. We ask you this as the emergence of these home beauty preparations that sort of build in pin curl apparatus. Does that hurt your business a lot? On the contrary, I think it's helped our business considerably because it has made the women more beauty conscious of beauty work and to keep up their appearance. So I feel that these home preparations has helped the beauty profession. Do you live here in this community too, Mr. Oppenheim? No, I live up in Lincolnwood. How long have you been here in this spot? I've been here since 1941. That's quite a good number of years. People been nice to you here? They certainly have. We're in a very nice district here in Logan Square. We

find that the people like us and we like to have them come up and visit us. You're glad you came. I sure am. Say what a two rival ice cream delivery men talk about when they get together. Oh, nothing much. Conditions and everything else like that. How the other guy is doing it. That's right. Well, here's the other guy. We just talk about business. How business is going? The weather. You men deliver out here all the time. Three days a week. Regular part of the route. That's right. Is this really a big Chicago market this Logan Square area? I would say so. Ice cream is concerned. Ice cream? I think everything else. Nice shopping, sir. Very good shopping, sir. You know, how long have you been coming out here? Oh, I've been coming out here now for about six years. Would you know what that monument across the street is? Which one? The church or the eagle? Well, the eagle. No, I don't know what it is. What it represents, but it's an eagle I can see from here. Do you

know, Andy? Oh, but I venture a guess and was put up for the war veterans. We're kind of curious and we'll find out yet. We'll wait and see. Well, good luck to you then. Thank you, man. Thank you. Thank you. We're here top of a walk up again on the second floor at 2539 Kedzie, which is just around the corner where we were a moment ago, and the office that we're in is the genopolis and company, real estate, insurance, and various sundry other items. Isn't it Mr. Genopolis? That's right. And you're a partner. That's right. Your name is Nick Genopolis? Yes, sir. I read it right off your desk there. How is this a real estate neighborhood, sir? It's pretty good. It's very good as far as insurance is concerned. There aren't too many transfers of real estate in this area. Pretty estate, would you say? Yes. People seem to want to hang out to what they have. How long have you been out here? Well, I've been in business here since 1949, though, my family's been here

since 1898. Is that right? Right. But not in this business. Well, I see. But in the community. That's right. So you sort of grew up here. That's right. I was born here. So you both work and live in this neighborhood, and do you find it or a typical neighborhood or better than most, or how would you describe it? Well, it's changed a little. It's gotten to be a little bit more of a transient area, especially around this area, where we're at now. But you'll find a lot of people that have been born here, and I think they're going to die here. They're not going to leave. Nick, how about politics in the area? What is it? Well, on this side of the street, which is Alderman Brands' ward, that's Democratic. Cross the street is Alderman Geisler. He's Republican, and a few blocks west of here is Alderman Lyskowski's ward, which is Democratic. You're kind of the crossroads in here, aren't you? I would say the distribution, as far as Republican Democrats, is concerned

is pretty evenly divided. Is this a pretty active area politically? People interested in politics. They get worked up, or are they generally apathetic? No, I wouldn't say apathetic, because usually at the primaries, like the last one where the Alderman were concerned, both sides had battles on their hands. Alderman Brandt got through on a small margin, and getting a little better than 50%. Geisler had a pretty good fight on his hands, and of course, the whole city knows the fight that was between Lyskowski and Marcinsk group. So everybody speaks his part here. Hi, son, how old are you? Ten. Ten? You live around here? No, I'm staying with a grandmother. Where do you live? You try. That's a long way from Logan Square. Yep. You're staying with your grandmother who lives here, huh? Yep. How do you like it? It's real nice. Is it like the place where you live in

Detroit? Better. Better, huh? Yep. And you look forward to coming down. Yes. I see you do all our shopping for you there. Yep. Well nice to talk to you. Okay. Come back and see us again. Okay. All right. Bye. Around the corner on Logan Boulevard at 3137 Logan Boulevard as a matter of fact, is the lowest restaurant and it's presided over by Mr. King Chi Chan who's here with us. Mr. Chan, how long have you been here? Oh, I've been here six over here. Six years. Did you have a Chinese restaurant somewhere else before you came here? Used to. Used to. Yeah. Yeah. Used to. Do you like it here pretty well? No. I do. People in this community go for Chinese food. Very, very nicely. What is this? An Eggful Young Neighborhood? Charmaine. And most of the popular, more in the Chinese, in the Dominican food. Fifty -fifty anyhow. Oh, you serve American food too. Oh, yeah. They do. How's business? They're fine. I'm not kicking. Would you say that this neighborhood

is a pretty prosperous one? Oh, used to. Rich. Very powerful. Rich. Living here, you know. And they eat lots of your food. Oh, it's the most. For a year. In Chinese, they said, listen, here before. Oh. There was a Chinese restaurant here before you came. That's right. And took it over. Well, you certainly have a nice place. Well, I have a nice place. And then in cocktail rungs, very nice too, you know. It fills up very rapidly. Well, a happy anyhow. You know. How the people in the neighborhood do you? Pretty nice. Oh, very nice. Very, very nice there. Well, it's certainly nice to see you soon. Well, I got to see you. And I glad to come over. Good luck to you. Thank you. Here's a man hard at work cleaning windows. What's your name, sir? Bill Marion. And you clean windows all over town? Are you a Logan Square specialist? Well, I'm a specialist around here, but I go to other parts of the city too. I see. I take it that you work out here because you like it a lot better than in the loop and the more crowded and congested areas. Yeah, it is.

It's a bit out here. I like it better. Of course, you've got a lot of ground floor windows to clean. Here, you don't have to climb very high. That's what I like now, too. That's a factor. All right, thanks, Bill. You're right. All right. We're here in the corner candy store, which happens to be an Andy's candy store. The overlooking Logan Square itself, corner here is Kenzie and Logan. The windows are this fine, modern establishment of just been cleaned. We can see the square and the monument on a kind of a sunny day. And here's Mrs. Ruth Feifield, the relief manager of the store. And this is the newest store in the block, isn't it? It really is, huh? It's been remodeled, you know. It was just a little small store and then they enlarged it. Well, how long has this particular store been here? This one about five years now. You worked here all that time? Four of them. I guess you get to know a lot of people around here. Yes, we do. Very nice people, too. Nice neighborhood. What does it? A middle -class neighborhood, would you say? I would say that. Various

nationality groups. Yes. Mostly, well, some Swedish. I think it's kind of a Swedish neighborhood around here, but very nice. Well, they certainly seem very friendly. They are. They are. Nice bunch. Why a lot of candy? Yeah. We sell a lot of candy. Ice cream, too, you know, on this weather. Well, it looks like a very profitable and handsome corner. It's the best of Andy's. It really is. I think the nicest store we have. We have, I should say, Andy. Well, I'll show you an important part of it. And thank you very much. Okay. Thank you. You working with Bernie Brothers here? Yes, sir. Have you been here very long? Yes, five years. Do you live in the neighborhood as well as work here? No, I don't. I live way up north. How do people treat you? Fine. I kind of enjoy working here. Very much. All right. Well, it's a nice day to be working anywhere. Say, what is that monument across the street in Logan Square? Do you know what that is?

I know it's an eagle, but I don't know what it represents. Well, I don't either. And I was just curious. We'll find out, maybe. I'll find. Thank you. Thank you. Well, along on the Kedzie side of this Logan Square block is the Alpine Meat Market, at 2543 North Kedzie. I understand it's a German meat market. And its manager is Joe O'Malley, who is not German at all. Are you Joe? No, sir. When you people all seem to live together out here very well. Oh, yeah. Talk to poles and jacks and Greeks. All Jewish? Yes. It seems to have a fine community and a very well integrated one. How's the meat business? Oh, it's going right along. What is this? Would you describe it as a steak neighborhood? Do you sell a lot of fancy cuts? Do you sell a lot of stew and meat? We handle the best of everything. And we sell just about everything there is to sell. From the

lowest, I mean, from a pig feet and all the way up to prime steaks. Has the recession touched you out at all? You felt it? Well, times, but not too bad. How long have you been here, Joe? Eight years. You see the same people every day? Well, sometimes, yes. We have quite a lot of repeat customers, majority of the customers. Once they come in, they'll always come back. Joe, do you live in this community? Well, I'm a little farther western. Yeah. Coming on the bus every day. Yeah. All right, thanks very much. Oh, you're welcome. Is your cab here, sir? My cab is right down over there, huh? Do you make this run very often? Well, I live in the neighborhood. I live in the neighborhood and work in the neighborhood. Well, whenever I'm around, I usually work in the city. How are the people out here? Well, I've been living here for 25 or 6 years. I found them all pretty nice. You certainly like it mighty well. Oh, huh. Try to get a Logan Square run when you can. Well, especially on the way home.

See you about, too. No, I've got to about 4 .35 o 'clock. Uh -huh. Well, it's certainly nice to talk to you. Thank you. It was nice talking to you. The cab business continues good. Well, it's better. You've got to make a living out of this. All right, sir. Well, at 3149 Logan Boulevard on the Logan side of the square. Here, there's a place called the Carousel dress and the sportswear shop. It's a proprietor. It's Mrs. Anne Levinson. Nice to talk to you, ma 'am. Nice to talk to you, too. And my question is, how is the sack going on down here, huh? It's just a mediocre, not too good. Uh -huh. And ladies out here don't go for them too much. Not too much, no. What do you sell most of them? Well, I think this sheet dress is the most popular. The sheet skirt, the straight slim line skirt. How does it happen that you're in a neighborhood and maybe not downtown where the

trade is a little brisker? Do you like it here? Yes, I like it here very much. It makes the selling of clothing a little bit easier. We get a lot of traffic just like downtown over here. People come home off the L. They're all transferring here, going west north all over. You certainly must meet a lot of people here. We sure do. How are they pretty nice? All very nice people that we get in here. Very nice. Kind of a stable community, would you say? Well, like I said, we get people from all over and the majority of the people are real nice. Have you felt any of the recession at all? I think everyone has to a certain point. Well, thank you very much. You're welcome. Well, sir, you're walking down Kedzi here. Are you through for the day? Not quite. Not quite. Just lunch hour for you. No, I just come from downtown. Well, I see. You live out here? No, it's ever some park. Oh, we work out here. No, I've got a bivore shop. This is my day off. Oh, I see. I'm going fishing this

afternoon. Not around here, though. No, no. I was just curious as to what that monument across the street in Logan Square was. You know what that is? You know, I've seen that for about 35 years. I still don't know what it is. Okay, fine. We've been up there for a long time. Maybe we'll find out while we leave. I mean, nobody's answering that question yet? Not yet. Good fishing. Good fishing, thanks. There's the coffee cup, a 31 -54 Logan Boulevard overlooking this monument here in the Logan Square. And how's the coffee at the coffee cup? Well, I wouldn't call it the coffee cup. The coffee wasn't good. It's the best. It's right here at this location. And you're Max Cooper. That's right. They tell me that we can really get the lowdown on the square from you. Well, you can get the lowdown on the square from me, but not exactly on the square. Not on the square. How long have you been here, Max? Two and a half years. So you certainly have a nice trade here and

we're kind of bollocks in it up there. Oh, you're not bollocks in it up. Have you lived here very long? In Logan Square. About six years. About six years. You know it pretty well, isn't it? Well, I know it pretty well. That's for sure. I look at everything over there. I know everything that goes on in the park. And landers of Logan Square. Really? I love it in the square. I was business. It's been very good, very good. I've tripled my business in the last six weeks. Last six weeks? Why is that? I just remodeled. Oh, I see. Well, we haven't been in the restaurant business very long. No, I was never on the other side of a counter until I bought this place. I was living in Europe and I became interested in cooking as a batch where I... I'm not a bachelor anymore. What were you doing in Europe? I was in the diplomatic service. Paris and London and Brussels. And a little shark stays in other countries out of there. A lot of nationality groups around here aren't there, man? A lot of nationality groups around here. I

practice my French on them now. That's the only other language that I can do. Not too well that. Polish way coming handy. Polish would come in a very, very handy in this neighborhood. I tried to learn a few words in Polish, but I always learn the wrong words. I can't use them here. Well, thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Well, by the way, what is that monument across the street there? You know, over in the square? Would you know? Well, that monument is for the wars. It was erected prior to the... to the earliest World War II. It was erected prior to that. And it is for the World War heroes and men are served in the wars. Congratulations. Is that right? You're the first one. About 50 persons that have known it. I know that. There's quite a lot of fun around here. One day there's a place that's filled up and we were shooting the bull along the counter here. And somebody says, what's the monument

for? So I didn't know. So I let somebody else run the cage bridge and while I went over there and read and find out what it was for, I'd been here from the square about five or six years there. Courted my wife under that monument. You should know. I still didn't know what it was for. Well, one wouldn't court in a woman. Well, Max, it's certainly been nice to talk to you. It's nice talking to you. This trip was again in the next six years. Thank you very much. You need to. Nice place. Thank you. We have taken the story of a city block. This one in Logan Square, between Milwaukee and Kedzie on Logan Boulevard. A single block. How would you measure it? By the people who have shopped there or worked there? Or have climbed the stairs to the second floor offices and rooms who have lived and died there? The plane lives and stayed calling seem ordinary enough in the corners where they exist day upon day. But taken together they are an exciting story of the

city. You could multiply it by a thousand or so and the end result would be Chicago. This is Jack Angel with George Wilson, an engineer whose recordings here have imprinted city in sound.